The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 25, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 18, 2000
Norman Douglas Lathrop, Ballston Lake, NY (US);
Robert Paul Czachor, Cincinnati, OH (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
Multiple tubes are connected to steam supply and spent cooling steam return manifolds for supplying cooling steam to buckets and returning spent cooling steam from the buckets to the manifolds, respectively. The tubes are prevented from axial movement in one direction by flanges engaging end faces of the spacer between the first and second-stage wheels. Retention sleeves are disposed about cantilevered ends of the tubes. One end of the retention sleeve engages an enlarged flange on the tube, while an opposite end is spaced axially from an end face of the adjoining wheel, forming a gap, enabling thermal expansion of the tubes and limiting axial displacement of the tube in the opposite direction.